Alchemy & Paracelsus Medicine

first published
in the magazine "Paracelsus" november
2005 (side 12-17)

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“The Philosopher‘s Magnet“ -
Alchemic Transmutation of Antimony

By alchemical transformation, i. e. transmutation
of the element antimony, a significant remedy emerges – In
today’s opinion this process seems
impossible but has now been comprehended at the University of Munich. No one
believed it, but the alchemists were right!

By Ulrich Arndt

“Of all minerals antimony contains the highest and strongest
Arcanum (remedy). It purifies itself and at the same time everything
else that is impure. Furthermore, if there is nothing healthy at
all inside the body, it transforms the impure body into a pure
one which was proved in cases of leprosy.” Thus Paracelsus
praises the extraordinary healing power of antimony (Sämtliche
Werke, vol. III, Aschner-edition, p. 151). Reports such as these
were the impetus to investigate the preparation of alchemical remedies
such as antimony in the Medical Faculty of the University in Munich.
Whether antimony as metal is actually transformed in the alchemic
laboratory process was investigated within the framework of a PhD.
In today’s medicine, namely due to its toxicity, antimony
is mostly used in very little doses as an emetic only. No one ever
thought in the slightest that a real transformation of the elements
would be possible.

The true reason for "producing gold"

Alchemy is imprinted into the memory of mankind as an "art
of making gold". In dictionaries the unavailing endeavours
of the mediaeval quackery is of course emphasized. A so-called
transmutation is meant, thus the transformation of a chemical stable
element into another element (instable, radioactive elements degrade
by themselves in the course of centuries or millenniums and therefore
transform themselves into another element). In modern physics such
processes of artificial transformation with the help of particle
accelerators are only possible with enormous amounts of energy
and is only possible with a few select atoms. In Alchemy however,
the transformation for instance of lead or mercury into gold is
considered possible and is actually proof of the supreme art of
an alchemist. Whoever succeeds, is also able to produce the highest
remedy of Alchemy, "the philosopher‘s stone". Thus
this "metal-test" is only – admittedly the most
spectacular – proof that an alchemist truly has the highest
arcanum at his disposal, and that he gives his patients no other
less laborious and therefore less expensive elixir instead.
However, the transformation of gold was not examined at the University of Munich.
With the processing of antimony, according to the alchemic laboratory instructions,
the medics unwillingly produced evidence that in principle such a transformation
of alchemy is possible. "The disappearance of antimony after extraction
is not clarified", Dr. David Schein summarizes as the result of his PhD.
With this objective observation he skilfully avoids any hints of the absolute
amazement of the scientists facing this process: this namely means no less
than the caving-in of today’s scientific knowledge of the unalterable
chemical elements.
Furthermore: In the spectacular process carried out, according to ancient alchemic
laboratory-instructions by Dr. Schein, the poisonous antimony ore, similar
to arsenic, becomes a completely non poisonous remedy. With this the ancient
recipes and reports on healing by Paracelsus and Basilius Valentinus, were
confirmed in an impressing way. They very much differed from the healing medication
of antimony in the later centuries. Due to a good reputation, which Paracelsus
enjoyed, the highly praised antimony-remedies were distributed fast. The knowledge
for the correct alchemic processing, however, was more and more forgotten and
the quacks simply sold toxic antimony-water. Already in the middle of the 17th
century, this incorrect use of remedies lead to the fact that the graduates
of medical universities had to swear never to use antimony- or mercury-compounds
anymore. Although in 1666 this ban was abrogated again and it was only recommended
to keep the dose as low as possible. Only very few still knew how to process
the completely nontoxic antimony-remedies.

A rediscovered healing formula

In 1978 within the framework of his PhD in the field of medicine,
David Schein wanted to examine the truth content of ancient instructions
for the production of alchemic remedies from antimony in a practical
way. "Was an ancient, highly effective healing substance forgotten?" he
asked himself in face of the many ancient medical texts which reported
about very astonishing healing successes due to a "spit-glass",
as antimony was also called because of its outer form at that time.
As a matter of fact, the application of antimony for healing has
been a tradition for thousands of years. Back in the 16th century
B.C. in "Eber‘s Papyrus" was stated that antimony-compounds
could be used successfully for eye diseases. In the first century
A.C. the Roman doctors also used it against "wild flesh" and
ulcers; and in the Middle Ages it was additionally recommended
to treat haemorrhoids, wounds, fistulas, skin cancer, leprosy and
other sufferings.
For the first time, Paracelsus described the inner application of antimony
which in an alchemical way, however, should be "freed of its toxicity" before
that. He described his antimony-processing altogether as a universal remedy
for purification of the body of "toxins": "In the same way and
form that antimony finishes in gold (in the sense of cleansing), it will perfect
the body as well. It namely contains the Essentia, which does not allow anything
impure to come together with the pure" (vol. III, p. 151). Paracelsus
refers here to a very astonishing characteristic of antimony: if one adds it
to a blend of melted metals, it will associate with the containing gold and
part from the "impure" metals. Because antimony seemingly "eats" and "extracts" the
precious metals, it was also called "wolf of metals" or "the
magnet of the wise" in earlier times. This apparent magical force of antimony
has a similar effect in man as well. According to the alchemical processing
it also separates the "pure" from the "impure" and leads
the "ill" (in the sense of the deposited "toxins", metabolic
waste products and disease-causing agents) out of the body. According to Paracelsus,
antimonium oil, which he administers together with the quintessence of balm
(melissa), is the most intensive: "... likewise Antimonium sublimed, calcinated,
reverberated and incorporated in oil, then see what kind of enormous use, great
power, great virtue, quick effect it reveals and proves" (vol. III, p.
243). The antimonium-oil "… shall be prescribed in Quinta Essentia
Melissae" (vol. III, p. 151).
In his PhD, David Schein worked according to a formula of the alchemist Basilius
Valentinus who became well known by his script, "Triumph-Waggon of Antimony",
published in 1604. The instructions at first sound very simple if rather laborious:
at first antimony-ore, which consists of a mixture of different antimony-oxides
and especially of sulphides, is slowly, gently heated until there are no more
fumes (because of the highly-toxic vapours amateur alchemists should not reproduce
this process without a vacuum pump!). Then everything is melted to glass. This
glass can adopt any colour of the spectrum and Basilius Valentinus and Paracelsus
rated this as a sign of antimony containing all qualities. Depending on the
processing, antimony could also be used as a kind of universal remedy for all
diseases. In fact, Dr. Schein succeeded to produce antimony-glass in the colours
red, yellow, orange, green, brown, grey, white and black in varying the parts
of the different antimony-oxides and -sulphides.
Valentinus recommends to use only golden coloured antimony-glass for further
processing. After cooling one should grind the antimony-glass very fine. Concentrated
vinegar is then poured onto the powder for several times until it is coloured
red-yellow. Then the powder is doused with distilled rainwater up to 144 times
and by distillation it is separated from it again. Then it has – according
to Valentinus – strangely a sweet taste which was also the case in Dr.
Schein‘s processing. Finally the powder is steeped in alcohol. First
the liquid will turn black and on its surface all colours of the rainbow shimmer
anew, and then it will turn red. The so emerged liquid is an antimony-tincture
which is now suitable for inner application.

Unknown organic compounds

As simple as the description of the production – which takes
several weeks – sounds, it nonetheless holds countless dangers.
Although Basilius Valentinus was very precise in comparison to
other alchemical scripts, today the ancient language and symbolic
codings are enough hindrance for a simple realisation. On top of
that, according to today’s level of knowledge in chemistry,
certain production steps are simply considered impracticable and
unreasonable. For instance the described reaction by Basilius Valentinus
about antimony-compounds with acetic acid and alcohol is impossible
in today’s opinion. Therefore, Dr. Schein was prepared for
unpleasant surprises and it was a real sensation to him, that all
of these "impossible" chemical reactions actually took
place in the way they were described. He had only to follow the
ancient instructions precisely – again proof for the very
precise observation of nature by the alchemists and their highly
amazing knowledge.
Dr. Schein suspects that by heating up and melting of antimony to glass, the
physical and spatial structure, thus the arrangement of molecules of this toxic
metal changes and is the reason for the unknown chemical reactions which become
possible. By this it can adopt new characteristics. At the same time, however,
he admits: "There is a phenomenon whose essence can not be understood
with the help of today’s knowledge."
Finally the medico could confirm the non-toxicity of the emanated compounds,
for "the antimony-tinctures are chemically understood neither as an antimony-compound
nor do they contain dissolved antimony". Instead they are complex organic
compounds, which have not yet been examined in detail. They probably emerge
from unknown reactions of vinegar and alcohol, which both are of organic origin,
with antimony as a kind of catalyst.

The imperial orb symbolizes antimony, it
is held by Saturn which stands for the grounding forces of
the metals (from Isaak Hollandus: “Hand des Philosophen” (Philosopher‘s
Hand)).

In this respect it is amazing that in the course of the alchemic
processing the content of toxic antimony in the solid remaining
substance is reduced to about 60 %, and this missing amount cannot
be found in the extracted tinctures. Thus the solid substances
contain 31 % pure antimony before the extraction in alcohol, and
after the processing it contains only 11 %. But the extract itself
does not at all contain anymore pure antimony. Therefore a transmutation
of the element had to take place. The alchemists were very conscious
about this transformation: "Thus principally antimony is nothing
but a pure poison, and not a minor, little and low poison, but
a very high noble poison, through and through, and even the greatest
poison by which one can execute man and animal to death," warns
Basilius Valentinus in his "Triumph-Waggon of antimony" and
continues: "After the processing of spit-glass one can not
find anymore poison, for antimony has to be completely transformed
by the spagyric art (the alchemical laboratory-processing) and
a remedy has to emerge from the poison."

The Healing Power of Antimony

Unfortunately, David Schein could not additionally investigate
the real healing effect of antimony essences within the scope of
his doctorate. His summary is as follows, “It can be shown
that all examined instructions are correct in the ‘Triumph-Waggon
of Antimony’ ... Although the highly praised healing effect
of the therein described compounds have not been taken seriously
and have been pronounced toxic, they should now be taken into consideration
with these new aspects. It should be further investigated as to
their value in today’s medicine.”
What Dr. Schein apparently did not know: Even today such tinctures from antimony
are produced as a remedy. Already in the beginning of the 20th century Baron
Alexander von Bernus, the most renowned alchemist and founder of the famous “Laboratorium
Soluna” in Donauwörth (Germany) rediscovered the ancient alchemical
antimony-recipes of Basilius Valentinus for the therapy. And about two years
ago, Achim Stockardt, the re-discoverer of the Paracelsus-Gold-Essence “Aurum
Potabile”, also succeeded in reproducing these high remedies from antimony
according to ancient formulas of Paracelsus: the antimony-oil combined with
the quintessence of balm as “Oleum antimonii”. According to the
experience of doctors and curative practitioners, antimony relieves joint pain
and myalgia and other sort of pains, which can be associated with deposits.
Besides this, it effects both sicknesses provoked by bacteria as well as viral
diseases. “It is, however, not clear if this is due to direct anti-effects
such as with antibiotics, or if the body’s own immune response is responsible,” admits
Anna Röcker, a curative practitioner from Munich. Obviously Basilius Valentinus
had an antibacterial application in mind, if he recommends the intake for a
better wound healing, “so that the inner source of the wound‘s
secretion is dried up”. Anna Röcker also successfully used antimony
compounds for fungal infections like intestinal mycosis, Candida Albicans.
With its Antimony “the philosopher‘s magnet” could actually
help “to pull out all of the impure” such as bacteria, viruses
and fungi as well as certain metabolic deposits, just as Paracelsus and Basilius
Valentinus have described.
Regarded energetically, Antimony is alchemically considered the “remedy
for grounding” par excellence. Thus it is capable of re-integrating body,
spirit and soul into the rhythmic cycles on earth. The traditional alchemic
symbol for antimony, the “imperial orb” with the cross above the
globe, depicts the universal integrating effect. It represents the power of
the four elements related to the cyclic courses of nature. The rhythms within
man also belong to it like the sleep-wake rhythm. That is why antimony is for
instance used for sleep disorders, which may also be related to congestion.

Antimony as the “wolf of metals”:
Antimony separates gold from impure metals, it is symbolized
by the wolf eating the sick, old king. With a later separation
by the melting of gold and antimony, pure gold is gained,
which is symbolized in the background by the burned wolf
and the reborn king emerging from the fire (from Michael
Maier: “Atlanta fugiens”).

Rudolf Steiner, the founder of Anthroposophy, stated that the
reason for the great universal healing power of antimony lies within
a close relationship: Comparable to the human being, who stands
between the animal kingdom and angels, antimony is neither mineral
nor ore, neither crystal nor metal – both are “beings
betwixt”, he said. Therefore Steiner thought: “Man
is actually antimony.